CraveFor King & Country: CraveThis is a great album by 2 very talented guys. I have been traveling with Joel & Luke for years. Brothers and back-up singers as well as support act to Rebecca St James, this is a band to watch out for.

Recent Movies

A birthday present from the kids. Oscar winning movie about the invention and development of FACEBOOK. Great film with a razor sharp script from Aaron Sorkin

Castaway

I was late to the party with this movie. Generally I am a huge fan of Tom Hanks & this is another great performance by him. Highly recommended

Inception

This movie was voted by Dr Kermode as his film of the year 2010. He added "Inception is proof that people are not stupid, that cinema is not trash & that it is possible for blockbusters & art to be the same thing"

02/14/2013

We now have over 700 signatures on the petition! Most of course are from Wales but others are from all over the world. If you have not signed yet, PLEASE DO IT NOW. CLICK HERE

Next week I, along with some other Christians involved in the abolition movement, am due to meet Stephen Chapman who is the Wales Anti-Human Trafficking Coordinator to inform him what churches and organisations are doing to raise awareness and tackle this issue.

Friday 15th February will be the launch of Redemption Sessions. This is a prayer event that will meet from 8pm - 10pm at Belmont Baptist Church, Tremorfa. Organised by Dai Hankey, Ignite and the #NotOnMyWatch campaign is proud to be associated with it. Sometimes went people are confronted about the reality of trafficking and slavery, they can be overwhelmed. The natural reaction is to ask "what can I do" It is my contention that everyone can tell someone else, everyone can sign the petition and everyone can pray! If you are in or mear Cardiff tomorrow, join us!

For some churches, schools, universities, businesses etc. it might be easier to have a paper petition. If it is helpful to you, please download the petition here

02/11/2013

A week ago we hosted a screening of the film "Nefarious - Merchant of Souls". The majority of the marketing was done through social media and we were delighted when over 80 people turned up at Woodies to watch the movie. We were setting the seen for an issue that God has been burning into our hearts.

In this blog, I will highlight some of the things that happened in the last week and it maybe that I will return to a number of thein more detail.

A number of weeks ago, we were succesful in lodging an online petition with the Welsh Assembley Government. It says

"We call upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to do all within its power to make Wales free from the illegal activity of people trafficking and slavery."

Sign the Petition HERE As I write this post, we are a few signatures short of 500. This may not seem many BUT it is just the beginning and is already the 2nd biggest petition on the hosting site! My request is that you not only sign it but you use all your influence to get others to sign it!

We launched to petition on twitter on Friday morning. We were delighted to get retweets by Cery Matthews, Paul Daniels, The Rend Collective, John Archer, Hear say's Noel Sullivan, Swansea City's mascot "Cyril the Swan" and many others.

Friday night saw the official launch at Rhiwbina Baptist Church and around 250 people turned up to the event. Dai Hankey spoke powerfully, my friend Trevor King made a powerful short film about when people trafficking became personal to him ( I will post later in the week), the Ignite band lead worship and the heart cry from the event was best summed up in this Jesus Culture lyric

There's an army rising up

There's an army rising up

There's an army rising up

To Break every chainBreak every chainBreak every chain

To Break every chainBreak every chainBreak every chain

There is power in the name of JesusThere is power in the name of JesusThere is power in the name of Jesus

To Break every chainBreak every chainBreak every chain

We have launched a website which can be accessed www.notonmywatch.mobi This has lots of information, campaign plans and schools lessons.

We have a video and a single to come and so much more. The outrage and blight on our world that is slavery and human trafficking MUST come to an end. Do your bit. Sign the petition here

01/31/2013

At Ignite Tuesday is often a special day. It's special it's because it is the day the most of our team are in the office. Around lunchtime we gather together and worship God. Most times I will open up the bible and share from the word of God. It is precious and He meets with us and we are blessed.

This Tuesday was different. As part of our preperation for this new season where we are launching #NotOnMyWatch we watched a film. I think it might be the first time we have done this but this was not the just any film. Nefarious - Merchant of Souls is an award winning documentary produced by Exodus Cry Let me say right now that is an excellent film, incredible. Did I enjoy it? NO! I was incensed, heart broken and angry. This film took me on a journey that helped to understand the evil that is Sex Trafficking and Slavery. Let me be very clear. It MUST STOP! I want to use this season of my life to highlight this issue, to help raise up a generation of abolitionists. There are people and organisations that know so much more than me about this. There are organisations with more contacts than Ignite that are working in this area but I know I cannot hide behind any of these excuses and do nothing.

One of the frustrations that people have as they look at these huge issues is "what can I do?" Well it is clear that the thing that changed the tide for William Wilberforce as he tried to get rid of transatlantic slavery was public opinion. When normal people made it known that is was unacceptable, when they effectively said to this world's power and principalities #NotOnMyWatch

In 2013 there are more people in slavery than there were in Wilberforce's day. Many of them are forced into the sex trade. If you want to know more then come along to Woodville Road Baptist Church on Monday 7th September. We will be serving coffee from 7pm and screening the movie at 7.30pm. It will inform you and I am convinced it will stir you into action. There is much you can do and we will begin to tell you what those things are that night.

If you are unable to join us, keep checking back to this blog and the Ignite Official Facebook page for further information. Please join us in ridding the earth of this unspeakable evil. Watch the trailer below

01/02/2013

#NotOnMyWatch is the new initiative launched today by Ignite . This new project aims to raise the issue of people trafficking and slavery to young people, particularly those based in Wales.

It is a shocking statistic that there are more people being kept as slaves today than there was at the time of the abolution of slavery by the USA in 1865. It is estimated that over 27,000,000 people in slavery, bonded labour and being used as pawns (ie someone given held as security for a debt). That is almost the equivelent of 50% of the population of the United Kingdom.

Human trafficking is the 2nd fastest growing criminal industry in the world. This involves people moving others, often against their will to other countries for profit. We would naive to assume this does not happen into Wales. Indeed reports have suggested that there could be 600+ woman who have been smuggled into Wales who are now acting as sex workers. Evidence is very difficult to obtain as understandably not only the industry very secretive but victims themselves are reluctant to report their conditions as they fear not only their "masters" but also the authorities as they are most likely in the UK illegally.

#NotOnMyWatch seeks to engage young people with the issue so not only will they be informed but also so that they can become modern day abolistionists ensuring the Wales becomes a "traffic free" zone. This is not just a human rights issue it is a key discipleship issue.

12/27/2012

At the beginning of the year we are starting with a week of prayer, beginning on the January 2nd 2013. This has encouraged me to think, read, and pray (!) more about prayer. To discover more about our plans for the week, keep checking our Facebook page

Below is an essay written by CS Lewis on prayer which I found helpful. Let me know what you think.

The Efﬁcacy of Prayer by CS Lewis

Some years ago I got up one morning intending to have my hair cut in preparation for a visit to London, and the ﬁrst letter I opened made it clear I need not go to London. So I decided to put the haircut off too. But then there began the most unaccountable little nagging in my mind, almost like a voice saying, “Get it cut all the same. Go and get it cut.” In the end I could stand it no longer. I went. Now my barber at that time was a fellow Christian and a man of many troubles whom my brother and I had sometimes been able to help. The moment I opened his shop door he said, “Oh, I was praying you might come today.” And in fact if I had come a day or so later I should have been of no use to him.

It awed me; it awes me still. But of course one cannot rigorously prove a causal connection between the barberʼs prayers and my visit. It might be telepathy. It might be accident.

I have stood by the bedside of a woman whose thighbone was eaten through with cancer and who had thriving colonies of the disease in many other bones, as well. It took three people to move her in bed. The doctors predicted a few months of life; the nurses (who often know better), a few weeks. A good man: laid his hands on her and prayed. A year later the patient was walking (uphill, too, through rough woodland) and the man who took the last X-ray photos was saying, “These bones are as solid as rock. It's miraculous.”

But once again there is no rigorous proof. Medicine, as all true doctors admit, is not an exact science. We need not invoke the supernatural to explain the falsiﬁcation of its prophecies. You need not, unless you choose, believe in a causal connection between the prayers and the recovery.

The question then arises, “What sort of evidence would prove the efﬁcacy of prayer?” The thing we pray for may happen, but how can you ever know it was not going to happen anyway? Even if the thing were indisputably miraculous it would not follow that the miracle had occurred because of your prayers. The answer surely is that a compulsive empirical Proof such as we have in the sciences can never be attained.

Some things are proved by the unbroken uniformity of our experiences. The law of gravitation is established by the fact that, in our experience, all bodies without exception obey it. Now even if all the things that people prayed for happened, which they do not, this would not prove what Christians mean by the efﬁcacy of prayer. For prayer is request. The essence of request, as distinct from compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted. And if an inﬁnitely wise Being listens to the requests of ﬁnite and foolish creatures, of course He will sometimes grant and sometimes refuse them. Invariable “success” in prayer would not prove the Christian doctrine at all. It would prove something much more like magic—a power in certain human beings to control, or compel, the course of nature.

There are, no doubt, passages in the New Testament which may seem at ﬁrst sight to promise an invariable granting of our prayers. But that cannot be what they really mean. For in the very heart of the story we meet a glaring instance to the contrary. In Gethsemane the holiest of all petitioners prayed three times that a certain cup might pass from Him. It did not. After that the idea that prayer is recommended to us as a sort of infallible gimmick may be dismissed.

Other things are proved not simply by experience but by those artiﬁcially contrived experiences which we call experiments. Could this be done about prayer? I will pass over the objection that no Christian could take part in such a project, because he has been forbidden it: “You must not try experiments on God, your Master.” Forbidden or not, is the thing even possible?

I have seen it suggested that a team of people—the more the better—should agree to pray as hard as they knew how, over a period of six weeks, for all the patients in Hospital A and none of those in Hospital B. Then you would tot up the results and see if A had more cures and fewer deaths. And I suppose you would repeat the experiment at various times and places so as to eliminate the inﬂuence of irrelevant factors.

The trouble is that I do not see how any real prayer could go on under such conditions. “Words without thoughts never to heaven go,” says the King in Hamlet. Simply to say prayers is not to pray; otherwise a team of properly trained parrots would serve as well as men for our experiment. You cannot pray for the recovery of the sick unless the end you have in view is their recovery. But you can have no motive for desiring the recovery of all the patients in one hospital and none of those in another. You are not doing it in order that suffering should be relieved; you are doing it to ﬁnd out what happens. The real purpose and the nominal purpose of your prayers are at variance. In other words, whatever your tongue and teeth and knees may do, you are not praying. The experiment demands an impossibility.

Empirical proof and disproof are, then, unobtainable. But this conclusion will seem less depressing if we remember that prayer is request and compare it with other specimens of the same thing.

We make requests of our fellow creatures as well as of God: we ask for the salt, we ask for a raise in pay, we ask a friend to feed the cat while we are on our holidays, we ask a woman to marry us. Sometimes we get what we ask for and sometimes not. But when we do, it is not nearly so easy as one might suppose to prove with scientiﬁc certainty a causal connection between the asking and the getting.

Your neighbor may be a humane person who would not have let your cat starve even if you had forgotten to make any arrangement. Your employer is never so likely to grant your request for a raise as when he is aware that you could get better money from a rival ﬁrm and is quite possibly intending to secure you a raise in any case. As for the lady who consents to marry you—are you sure she had not decided to do so already? Your proposal, you know, might have been the result, not the cause, of her decision. A certain important conversation might never have taken place unless she had intended that it should.

Thus in some measure the same doubt that hangs about the causal efﬁcacy of our prayers to God hangs also about our prayers to man. Whatever we get we might have been going to get anyway. But only, as I say, in some measure. Our friend, boss, and wife may tell us that they acted because we asked; and we may know them so well as to feel sure, ﬁrst that they are saying what they believe to be true, and secondly that they understand their own motives well enough to be right. But notice that when this happens our assurance has not been gained by the methods of science. We do not try the control experiment of refusing the raise or breaking off the engagement and then making our request again under fresh conditions. Our assurance is quite different in kind from scientiﬁc knowledge. It is born out of our personal relation to the other parties; not from knowing things about them but from knowing them.

Our assurance—if we reach an assurance—that God always hears and sometimes grants our prayers, and that apparent grantings are not merely fortuitous, can only come in the same sort of way. There can be no question of tabulating successes and failures and trying to decide whether the successes are too numerous to be accounted for by chance. Those who best know a man best know whether, when he did what they asked, he did it because they asked. I think those who best know God will best know whether He sent me to the barberʼs shop because the barber prayed.

For up till now we have been tackling the whole question in the wrong way and on the wrong level. The very question “Does prayer work?” puts us in the wrong frame of mind from the outset. “Work”: as if it were magic, or a machine—something that functions automatically. Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly concrete Person. Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine. In it God shows Himself to us. That He answers prayers is a corollary— not necessarily the most important one—from that revelation. What He does is learned from what He is.

Petitionary prayer is, nonetheless, both allowed and commanded to us: “Give us our daily bread.” And no doubt it raises a theoretical problem. Can we believe that God ever really modiﬁes His action in response to the suggestions of men? For inﬁnite wisdom does not need telling what is best, and inﬁnite goodness needs no urging to do it. But neither does God need any of those things that are done by ﬁnite agents, whether living or inanimate. He could, if He chose, repair our bodies miraculously without food; or give us food without the aid of farmers, bakers, and butchers; or knowledge without the aid of learned men; or convert the heathen without missionaries. Instead, He allows soils and weather and animals and the muscles, minds, and wills of men to co-operate in the execution of His will. “God,” said Pascal, “instituted prayer in order to lend to His creatures the dignity of causality.” But not only prayer; whenever we act at all He lends us that dignity. It is not really stranger, nor less strange, that my prayers should affect the course of events than that my other actions should do so. They have not advised or changed God's mind—that is, His over-all purpose. But that purpose will be realized in different ways according to the actions, including the prayers, of His creatures.

For He seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye. He allows us to neglect what He would have us do, or to fail. Perhaps we do not fully realize the problem, so to call it, of enabling ﬁnite free wills to co-exist with Omnipotence. It seems to involve at every moment almost a sort of divine abdication. We are not mere recipients or spectators. We are either privileged to share in the game or compelled to collaborate in the work, “to wield our little tridents.” Is this amazing process simply Creation going on before our eyes? This is how (no light matter) God makes something—indeed, makes gods—out of nothing.

So at least it seems to me. But what I have offered can be, at the very best, only a mental model or symbol. All that we say on such subjects must be merely analogical and parabolic. The reality is doubtless not comprehensible by our faculties. But we can at any rate try to expel bad analogies and bad parables. Prayer is not a machine. It is not magic. It is not advice offered to God. Our act, when we pray, must not, any more than all our other acts, be separated from the continuous act of God Himself, in which alone all ﬁnite causes operate.

It would be even worse to think of those who get what they pray for as a sort of court favorites, people who have inﬂuence with the throne. The refused prayer of Christ in Gethsemane is answer enough to that. And I dare not leave out the hard saying which I once heard from an experienced Christian: “I have seen many striking answers to prayer and more than one that I thought miraculous. But they usually come at the beginning: before conversion, or soon after it. As the Christian life proceeds, they tend to be rarer. The refusals, too, are not only more frequent; they become more unmistakable, more emphatic.”

Does God then forsake just those who serve Him best? Well, He who served Him best of all said, near His tortured death, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” When God becomes man, that Man, of all others, is least comforted by God, at His greatest need. There is a mystery here which, even if I had the power, I might not have the courage to explore. Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage. If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent, with far less help, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle

10/03/2012

I have known Ernie Haase and Signature Sound since I did some shows with Bill & Gloria Gaither & some of the homecoming friends in Europe a few years back. Indeed from there I was delighted to book some of their shows and road manage a tour of Europe for them. So it was with some interest that I read this press release issued earlier this week.

Ian Owens Resigns From EHSS

Dear Friends,

For the past two years the EHSS team and fans have been enriched by the voice and personality of Ian Owens. Ian has announced that he will be pursuing other interests (both musical and personal) and we fully support him and wish him great success. Ian's last date with EHSS will be October 13th, 2012 in Sunnyvale, TX. Come out and support Ian and please pray for Ian and his wife Megan as they follow this new path. We will miss Ian dearly. He is a funny, FUNNY man who has become a great friend and that will never change. We will update you at a later date with all information concerning Ian and his plans. Our new bass singer is a young man you are going to love. His name is Paul Harkey. We will fill you in on all of his information soon. Pray for EHSS as we navigate through this transition time.

Sincerely, Ernie

During the time I have known them EHSS has seem a few changes. Ryan Seaton moved on as lead and Tim Duncan vacated the bass spot. Each time there has been a significant outpouring of grief, disappointment, speculation and in some cases downright anger from fans. Indeed I still get many visits to my site for people trying to find information about Ryan Seaton and even Guy Penrod. The ususal earch question ."why did.... leave...?" Whilst being inquisitive in natural that fact that people are surprised by change is strange especially those that walk with Jesus.

A book in the old testament Ecclesiastes reminds us

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3

This scripture suggests that not only is change the only thing, other the God, we can be certain about, the very changes that cause us such concern and discomfort are sometimes designed by the Lord.

At the times of distress, concern and discomfort it is not unusual for a fellow Christian to recite

and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

Or

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future

Jeremiah 29:11

These are the word of God so they are truth but often they are tossed without care or real concern in the face of a hurting person. Often in might be helpful to offer these verses as comfort to our grieving or consuded brother or sister but sometimes they just need to know you care enough to feel their pain not wish them out of it! That said, when you walk in valley (When not if!) then I commend you speak these verses over your life because He is good and He does promise you hope.

Our very lives are testimony to change. We have grown, and in our story we have to the most radical change possible once we were lost and now we are found. Businesses in the 1980's were urged to recognise that change was inevitable (Change or die!) and that to secure their future they should manage change. It is timely that as individual believers we also need to be involved in this process. We should accept and embrace that which Paul told the church in Philippi

"for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

Philippians 2:13

Yes God is in control. He does not always cause the change but He is in the redemption business and He will be faithful to His promises.

Throughout the gospels we are aware that Jesus is a man on a mission. He very appearance changed everything. His closest friends seemed most challenged by the very changes he brought about. However we have the advantage of knowing the end of the story. The blameless life did not end in His death but in a glorious ressurection. This my friends is the ultimate good news.

09/27/2012

The week before the launch we invited our core team to join us at the hall to have a run through setting everything up for the new congregation. It was such an encouraging night. Not only did we get everything working we had a great time of praise and prayer. The presence of God was tangible and developed not only a sense of excitement but also of intimacy about His plans for us.

The day before the congregation began, Lesley and I went out to celebrate her birthday with our great friends Alun & Kathy Matthias. It was so nice to compare notes, hopes and fears about the new adventure.

Diana & Lesley Prepare to Welcome Visitors

As the day arrived for the launch of the congregations, the church prayed for us and it was all systems go! On our way home we took time out to buy some nice coffee. We wanted to ensure people got a great welcome, quality drinks and cakes. Using a hall and not a church building means that there is a longer set up. The team arrived in good time to lug chairs, make drinks, set up PA and the 101 things that need to be done to make a service work. Pastor Stephen Gibson came along with Millie Booth to lead worship, Lesley was hosting and I was speaking. As the start time approached, people began to arrive, not only our team, a few well-wishers from other churches and some folks from City Temple

Last Minute Preparation

but most crucially, people from the village of Wenvoe. One lady who had received a leaflet through the door stated that this congregation was an "answer to prayer". In total about 40 people attended, we were thrilled.

Our plan all along was to have what could be recognised a an "act of worship". Simply put, there would be sung worship, preaching and prayer ministry as key components of each evening. We would then encourage people to stay for a chat over a drink and cake.

I can honestly say everyone did an amazing job. The preacher was more nervous than he anticipated but most people didn't notice :-) Our welcome team ensured that everyone was spoken to and the hospitality was excellent. Stephen & Millie lead us in worship that with the echoing acoustics of the room took the volume to another level.

By the time Lesley and I got home, we were buzzing and it took a good while for us to be able to truly relax. The journey had only just begun. The day had been a milestone and all glory belongs to God

09/26/2012

I have known Joel & Luke for many years and have been delighted to watch their development as artists. I recently started to book their international shows. Check this video out and you will see why this is a very exciting prospect....

09/25/2012

Wenvoe is a great village. It has a remarkable number of meeting places considering it has a little over 2,000 people living there. As we began to consider where we meet, we began to pray. We determined to prayer walk every street. On our first venture we felt drawn to the Community Centre. On enquiring not only did we discover it was available each Sunday evening, it had a remarkably affordable rent. In faith we booked it until Christmas.

Other essential things needed to be done. We sent an article to the local magazine "Wenvoe What's On" . Had baners produced advertising the church and printed leaflets to go into every house in and around the village.

Not only did we prayer walk the village, along with a remarkable group of helpers we ensured every house received a leaflet. In order to gather, encourage and prepare the team, we organised a evening of prayer ministry training. This also equiped people with basic theology, values and practice about what we believe about ministry and how we serve in this area. I would say this was a key session. It not only set standards, it built confidence and developed a clear understanding about praying for people who respond to the gospel and those who respond to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

During this time City Temple began to inform the main congregation about the two new plants in Wenvoe and Llanishen. This was done by items in the services, newsletter, website and crucially an evening of prayer. All these things set a firm foundation for the launch of Vale Village Church.

In the next article, I will look at the initial meetings of the congregation

09/24/2012

This series of articles. Follows the journey that we are on that has lead to the establishing Vale Village Church based in Wenvoe, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.

Having lead the ignite ministry for a number of years and being part of Cardiff City Temple I began to feel an unsettling in my spirit. Initially this caused a disquiet but Lesley and I began to sense there was a new season approaching. My friend Andrew Davies, the leader at Rhiwbina Baptist Church prophesied that he saw a door opening in front of me. It was a door I did not expect or one that I was looking for but that when it opened I should walk through it.

We were pproached by our very food friends, Kathy & Alun Matthias. God was calling them tio set up a church congregation in Llanishen. We were flattered when they asked us to be a part of the leadership of this new venture.

During the break between Christmas and the New Year, I some time each day walking and praying. I often found myself strolling around the Upper Orchid Field in Wenvoe. As I gazed across the countryside and tramped around the cold wet streets of the village I realised that we were planning to travel 30 minutes to Llanishen whilst ignoring the village where God had planted us. It became increasingly evident that we were being prompted to launch an evangelical, pentecostal congregation in Wenvoe! I was suprised, to say the least, by this outcome. Lesley was even more suprised. However, she too felt God encouraging

The Upper Orchid Field -Wenvoe us in this Kingdom adventure.

We were hopeful that our home church, City Temple would also confirm this vision and that this could be launched as a congregation from this Elim church. We approached Steve Ball and shared our hazy vision. Within minutes he confidently assured us of his support. He asked me to produce a simple document to submit to the elders and promised to arrange an audience with the elders as soon as possible. Within a couple of weeks they unanimously agreed to the proposal.

The next few months featured a lot of prayer, discussions and also a couple of really exciting projects. As part of the celebration of the the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we were able to present New Testaments to the pupils and staff of Gwenfo Church in Wales Primary School as a gift from the upcoming congregation. We also hosted a home group as part of the 40 Days of Community initiative. It was evident that most of these people would be a key part of the team that would launch what we were now calling Vale Village Church Great people with great hearts!

As part of the 40 days of community we were looking for a way that we could serve the people in the village. We decided that we would organise a free car wash.

So one Saturday morning we based ourselves outside of Springfield Stores and washed the cars of any of the shoppers who parked outide. We also invited anyone we met to join us on September 16th as we launched the new congregation. We finished off the day with a team BBQ back out our home.

The following day, Lesley and I began a very relaxong holiday on the Kennet and Avon canal. We used the narrowboat "Maylee" that belongs to the wonderful Maggs & Roy Hibbert. As well as break from work we also wanted to spend time with God to get a real sense of direction, continued confirmation and inspiration. We spent time praying, reading the bible and dreaming dreams. One of the questions that was on our mind was, would anyone from the village come? During one of her quiet times, Lesley was guided towards this scripture:

This is what the LORD says:“Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the one who does this—the person who holds it fast, who keeps the SabbathThe Sovereign LORD declares “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.”From Isaiah 56